My first mouflon

My 1st mouflon, in September 2009.

My dream is to hunt mouflon in the mountains. Many hunters go to enclosed parks but it isn’t for me. I wanted an authentic hunting story. I had a contact for this animal in the Alps called JC, more specifically in the Southern Alps.
JC was my guide for this trip.

Today it’s time to leave my home in the direction of the Southern Alps. I’m driving between GAP and SISTERON.
I have an appointment with JC in a little town. We’re going to a very small and picturesque village. It’s very, very beautiful. We spent the evening and the night in a small old hut. It’s a very famous residence.
In the night I dream of mouflons. I have never seen this animal in the wilderness.

The alarm rings. I’m very happy because today’s a special day for me.
After a little breakfast, we go to the mountains. After 5 minutes by car, we are in the hunting area. It’s very beautiful place. We are between the Alps and Provence. We are in the Alpine foothills, so the vegetation on the North is grasses and in the Southern slope, is some Provencal vegetation.

We are at the foot of the mountain, looking with binoculars for some animals. We find some lambs and ewes at a very long distance. JC says to me: today we find a big mouflon ram for you.
I take my 270 and my rucksack. We started for a long walk.
 
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Hello Vincent

Welcome and enjoy your time here.
If your 'long walk' is for your 'proper' Mououflon of the Mountains - Good Luck and hope endeavors successful.

Please share the outcome.
L
 
Write in french then my man , cant leave a story like that on a cliff hanger , we can use google translate !
 
JC says to me: we walk slowly to look at the mountainside. The beginning of our walk is difficult. After 5 minutes it becomes easier, we have a good tempo. We take many breaks for drinking, taking photos and to glass. We see 3 mouflons (ewes and lambs), and many chamois. We walk again; we arrived to the level where they are no trees. We see other mouflons but they aren’t rams.
JC wants us to go to the top of mountain. I hear a whistle…What is it? It’s a marmot.
On the slope we see many marmots, it’s beautiful.
We arrived at the top. It’s very beautiful. We take a little break. We see an eagle; it’s a very big bird!!! And under us, we see some mouflons and in this group we can see a ram.
JC says we should continue to the top so that we can look for animals all the way to the edge of the territory. And if it’s necessary we can climb down. We advanced along the summit. It’s a very good moment.
An eagle is in the sky. It comes to within 15 meters of us. It’s very impressive. We advanced again. I glassed a cliff. I see a piece of horn. I say to JC there is a ram below us.
JC says to me: “Prepare your rifle for a shot”. My heart is thumping!
We advance a little more and see other rams. It’s impossible to see all of any particular animal. So it’s necessary to climb down a little. A marmot is on our route. It’s possible it’s alerting the rams.
No, it’s back in its’ hole. I arrive just in the front of cliff. I take my 270. I see animals, but many rocks cover up the rams. I see just heads, or horns. The rams are asleep.
Then the animals stand up very fast. I don’t understand why they have this reaction. I can count 5 rams. They’re going near some firs. We can hear a loud noise, and we see many mouflons, 40/50 individuals, they are walking. A shot is impossible because they’re far away. So it’s this noise that startles my 5 rams.
And in this group, I see a very, very big male. JC says to me: it’s the first time I see such a big ram.
I want to shoot this animal, but the group are on the edge of our territory and they’re going in the wrong direction for us. It’s time to eat so we take another break….
 
The end of my story . The photos for mondey because I don't have my computer.....

Aftera little breakfast, we started hunting again. We are just near the cliff wherewe saw many animals. JC says to me that it’s possible many animals are going ontothe cliff during our breakfast.
Ithink that it’s not possible.
Wewalked to the edge of the cliff and we glassed. I saw a ram. I take my rifle.It’s beautiful, and I find a second ram. A shot is impossible because some rockscover up their bodies. Now they walked. I don’t shoot because I’m not sure ofmy shot. I don’t want to wound the ram. The animal is between 220 and 250 metresaway, but I’m not in a good position on the ground.
JCthinks I missed a good opportunity. Now the cliff is empty. We walked a littlemore, and I hear a noise. We are just near the place where the 5 rams went 1hour before. I think it’s some mouflons. I take my rifle and I go to the edgeof the cliff. I see 5 rams walking, and they are all identical. The first is walkingand the others lying down. I say to JC “I’ll shoot the first one”. Ok, noproblem. I wait until my ram is broadside, so that I don’t hit a horn with mybullet. Now it’s in a good position. I shoot. The ram falls down on the ground instantly.The other animals stand up and start to run on the cliff. I’m very happy, it’sa good moment.
JCcongratulates me. We go to my ram. I break a fir branch. We arrived near theram. I put the branch in the mouth of the ram. In France it’s symbolic ofrespect for the animal.
Wetake some photos. I gralloch the ram. And JC puts the ram on my shouders.It’s very heavy. JC asks me whether I can see a place far away. Yes….We go tothis place. I understand I will have a difficult time. During a little lessthan 5 hours I walked with my ram. During the walk we took some breaks. Iremember two moments.
Thefirst is when I passed near a cliff, and I slipped because it was raining alittle. I catch a tree just before the edge of the cliff. I hold the ram by ahorn. It’s in the void. With some bravery I pull the mouflon back up the cliff.
Andthe second moment is when I have the ram on my back, and we see a mouflongroup. We stopped. The animals are walking 50 meters away from us. And in thisgroup I see the very big ram, the one we see 2 hours before. It’s verybeautiful. It’s looking at me….it’s a gold medal animal, it’s sure.
Whenwe arrive at the car I’m very tired. I’m very happy because I just lived anintense moment. I turn around and I see the side of mountain. I see the placewhere I killed my ram. I can see my way with my ram on my back. JC says me,many people are incapable of doing what you did.

Aftermy first ram I returned in 2010 to this place and I shot an even bigger ramthan in 2009. In 2011, I leave my place to a good friend. He shot an evenbigger ram than me. In 2012, I went to the same place, and it was a disaster.We see very few mouflons. I shot a little ram. The explanation is the wolf. Nowin this place the hunters can shoot just few mouflons so it’s not possible forme to go. The wolf is a problem for mouflons in France ....
 
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